The free and confidential helpline is open to help children 365 days a year and demand is high across the festive period for the advice provided by its specially-trained counsellors.

Last year 495 counselling sessions were delivered to children on 25 December – a 21 per cent increase on Christmas Day 2015.

Across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day – Childline, which is run by the NSPCC, delivered 2,490 counselling sessions in 2016-17, up from 2,353 the previous year.

Mental and emotional health was the most frequently-expressed concern with 627 counselling sessions delivered on the subject, followed by family relationships with 387 and suicidal feelings with 212.

As counsellors prepare to talk to young people in need of support and advice over this year’s festive period the NSPCC is appealing to the public to help them be there for even more children and teenagers who get in touch by phone, text or online.

To ensure as many of these young people as possible are getting the help they need the NSPCC is running its Light Up Christmas for Children appeal. To support the campaign all you have to do is make a small cash donation by sending a simple text message.

Support our Christmas appeal for the NSPCC and Childline

The Leicester Mercury is supporting the NSPCC’s Light up Christmas for Children campaign which asks for your help as the festive period approaches.

Even the smallest donation can lead to a brighter future for a young person who, at present, is forced to suffer in silence. Just £4, sent via a simple text message, could pay for a counsellor to answer an extra phone call or online chat.

So please help us be there for the children who believe nobody else cares about them. With your support we can comfort, protect and save even more precious young lives, which is surely one of the best gifts you could possibly give this Christmas.

To donate £12, text ‘NSPCC 12’ and to donate £20 text ‘NSPCC 20’, also to 83010. The NSPCC will receive 100 per cent of your donation.

A 15-year-old girl who contacted Childline over Christmas 2016 told a counsellor about the sexual abuse she had suffered.

She said:

“We had family around today for Christmas dinner and my uncle came. He was being really nice and gave me a present. I gave him a hug to thank him and went upstairs."

“A little while later he came into my room and closed the door. I asked him what he wanted but he pushed me onto the bed and made me do things that I didn’t want to do. I feel so guilty and ashamed – I never want anyone to know.”

Childline founder and President Dame Esther Rantzen said:

“For most children Christmas is a time of happiness, but at Childline we know only too well there are many young people across the UK who find it the darkest and most difficult time of year."

"They contact Childline to tell us they are spending the holidays surrounded by violence and anger, suffering from abuse and neglect, or wrestling with mental health problems."

“The good news is that while most of the country stops for Christmas, Childline does not."

"Our fantastic staff and volunteers will be working around the clock – including on Christmas Day itself – helping young people, some of whom will be in desperate need of support and advice.”